Exploratory foraging behavior of a subterranean termite, Reticulitermes flavipes, in the lens of foraging gene expression

Exploration of new environments has been an ordeal filled with uncertainties. Different organisms address the problem differently. Social insects use division of labor to assign specific individuals or caste members in charge of certain tasks, including foraging. Recent studies showed that cGMP-dependent protein kinase, i.e., foraging gene, is indeed affecting foraging behavior in several social insects, such as honeybees, ants, and termites. Previously, we identified two foraging gene isoforms, namely Rffor-α and Rffor-β, from the eastern subterranean termite, Reticulitermes flavipes, a global invasive species, and one of the most damaging termite pests. Here, we investigated the dynamic changes of Rffor-α and Rffor-β when R. flavipes was exposed to new environments. Based on the foraging/exploratory assay, the most active and the least active individuals can be described by foraging gene expression. The subsequent expression profiling showed that the most active individuals in the group have significantly lower Rffor-β, expression than the least active ones, suggesting a negative correlation between Rffor-β, and foraging activity (ρ= -0.57, p < 0.0001). However, no obvious correlation was observed between Rffor-α expression and foraging activity (ρ= -0.2, P=0.14). RNAi-based functional analysis of Rffor-α and Rffor-β during exploratory behavior is currently ongoing.